Maryland recruits talented county pair

Surrattsville runner, McNamara receiver accept offers from Terrapins

‘‘I’ve always dreamed of coming to this school,” said Meggett. ‘‘It’s always been a personal dream. I had the opportunity for a dream to come true and I took it. I pretty much knew when I got the offer and the opportunity to commit, I would.”

Meggett is the third county athlete to verbally commit to the Terps’ 2008 class, joining Bishop McNamara defensive back Cameron Chism and Forestville wide receiver Kevin Dorsey, who announced his intentions more than a year ago.

A compact and powerful 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds, Meggett said he had offers from Howard, James Madison and Old Dominion. Penn State and Virginia also had interest, but the Terps were Meggett’s first Division I-A scholarship offer.

Meggett has strong bloodlines. His father, Dave, was one of the National Football League’s top all-purpose performers in the 1990s, playing for the New York Giants, New England Patriots and New York Jets over 10 seasons. A two-time Pro Bowl selection, Dave Meggett is second in league history with 3,708 punt return yards.

Dave Meggett’s high school coach, Dave Sollazzo, is now the linebackers’ coach and recruiting coordinator at Maryland.

Meggett rushed for 1,150 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

Chism, a first-team Gazette-Star defensive back selection last fall, also has a comfort zone at Maryland. Terps’ defensive coordinator Chris Cosh was a standout in the 1980s at the Forestville school and recruited Chism.

‘‘I’ve known the Maryland coaches for quite a while, so I just felt why drag this [recruiting] on when I know where I wanted to go,” said Chism, who made the decision in late August. ‘‘I really liked how the staff treated guys like Jeff Allen and Anthony Wiseman [both DeMatha High grads and current Terp defensive backs]. Both Jeff and Anthony told me that Maryland was a great place to play.”

Ranked the state’s No. 9 prospect by Rivals.com, Chism had offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Temple.

Trading places

For only the fourth time, a county public high school has the state’s No. 1 ranking. Friendly replaced DeMatha at the top of the weekly poll of statewide reporters. The defending state Class 3A champion Patriots, who opened their season with a 50-12 domination of defending 2A champ Edmondson from Baltimore City on Saturday, had seven first-place votes to edge past DeMatha by two points (293-291).

The Stags were No. 5 in USA Today’s season-opening Top 25 poll, but lost their opener to nationally-ranked St. Xavier from Cincinnati Sept. 2 before routing Baltimore City’s Gilman. 42-0, on Saturday. The Hyattsville school opened No. 1 in the state after going wire-to-wire last fall.

Eleanor Roosevelt moved up two positions to No. 7 while defending state 4A champ Suitland dropped two to No. 10. Charles H. Flowers moved up one spot to No. 12, and Gwynn Park fell 14 places to No. 20 after losing to defending state 1A champ Dunbar of Baltimore City on Saturday.

Friendly joins Roosevelt, Oxon Hill and High Point as county public programs to hold the state’s top spot. The Raiders were No. 1 for the final two weeks of the 2000 regular season before finishing No. 6 after losing in the 4A semifinals to Montgomery County’s Sherwood.

In 1991, Oxon Hill started atop the poll, but was upset by Bowie in the third week of the regular season. The following week, Oxon Hill defeated then-No. 1 DeMatha, and High Point moved to No. 1, but it was short-lived. That same week, the Beltsville school lost to Suitland, ending a 17-game losing streak by the Rams.

E-mail Derek Toney at dtoney@gazette.net.